In the meditation community I’ve heard the term “spiritual warrior” used to describe people following the path of mindfulness. While this is an appealing platitude, its implications are odd — if spiritual life is attention directed inward, isn’t spiritual war just a war against yourself?
Following this logic I’d like to suggest we see ourselves not as spiritual warriors, but as spiritual peacemakers. In meditation, we don’t do any active fighting or resisting. The more we resist our thoughts and feelings, the stronger they become. When it comes to spirituality, we should take the MLK ethos, not the Malcolm X ethos. We should make a pact of non-aggression with ourselves, otherwise, as Carl Jung said, “What we resist persists.”
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